It is truly a credit to your integrity that you kindly offered such a thoughtful and detailed explanation for the benefit of LOTR fans on this forum. Other commenters here have already responded eloquently, so in the interests of brevity I won't repeat the excellent points they've made; suffice to say that your directorial input on the forthcoming prequels will be greatly missed, but it's great that you're still on-board in a creative capacity.

Apologies in advance if you've already been asked this (or if other commenters have already discussed the idea elsewhere) -- I'm new to this forum and haven't gone through the extensive previous discussions:

Have you and Peter Jackson considered collaborating on movies dealing with any of Tolkien's other "prequel" stories ? From a personal perspective, I was thinking that the rise and eventual catastrophic downfall of Numenor has huge scope for a series of movies, possibly on an even grander scale than the phenomenal LOTR trilogy. The following is optional, but maybe it could be supplemented with one or more follow-up films focusing on the founding of Gondor & Arnor, the subsequent war involving the "last alliance of Elves and Men" and the defeat of Sauron, finishing with the death of Isildur and the loss of "the ring".

As you no doubt already know, these historical events are summarised in the Appendices of the LOTR book along with The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

Again, the visual and dramatic scope is absolutely incredible, especially as it would show Numenor and later Gondor at the height of their power and grandeur; it would also place the events of the LOTR trilogy into their proper wider context within Tolkien's overall story arc (including explaining the actual ancestral & "Atlantis" geographical origins of Aragorn's royal dynasty, who & what Sauron actually is, etc etc). The ending would also tie in very nicely with the existing LOTR films along with the impending Hobbit movies.

The depiction of the story would obviously have be very carefully thought-out, especially as some sections of it cover thousands of years of history (which would need to be selectively condensed at various points); also, maybe Christopher Tolkien could lend a hand with constructing the actual dialogue in order to realistically expand the often-brief (sometimes non-existent) dialogue summarised in the prequel books, so that it remains faithful to the style of his father's work.

Just a friendly suggestion anyway; thanks to your very considerate message on this thread, we're all aware of the reasons you had to withdraw from continuing to direct the Hobbit movies. However, I'm sure that you and Peter Jackson would do a fantastic job if you did eventually decide to make films about the events I've mentioned, and of course there are countless fans worldwide who would be extremely excited to see you both bring this part of Tolkien's Middle-earth story to life in your signature visually-stunning styles.